A FAMILY is calling for justice to be done after an assault victim lost his fight for life after lying bed-bound with severe brain damage for two years.

Anthony Burgess, 36, who had an existing brain condition, was assaulted on the platform of Greenbank Railway Station, near Northwich, on April 10, 1999.

For a time it was touch and go whether he would survive.

But Anthony, who was well known on the Blacon estate in Chester, survived for more than two years in a persistent vegetative state requiring 24-hour medical attention until his death on Monday last week.

Gary Wilson, of Dodington, Whitchurch, was jailed for three years after admitting causing grievous bodily harm but this was reduced to two years on appeal.

However, Wilson could now face a manslaughter charge if the Crown Prosecution Service considers his actions led to Anthony's death.

Mrs Jones who, with sister Carol, visited her brother in hospital almost every day, added: 'At the moment I am still numb. It's very hard. I didn't want him to go.'

The assault left Anthony bed-bound and deaf and blind on his left side. He could neither talk nor walk.

Mrs Jones said Anthony, who had been looked after at Barrowmore Nursing Home, Great Barrow, had grown weaker and when complications developed had to be taken to the Countess of Chester Hospital, where he died.

Her husband Derek said Wilson's original two-year sentence was not enough.

'It's absolutely disgusting,' he said.

'Whether we will get justice, we don't know at the moment. It's all up in the air. We can't even lay the lad to rest. It's cracking Maureen and Carol up. But they have been amazing ­ where they have got their strength from I just don't know.'

Detective Inspector Roger Colman of British Transport Police's CID section said: 'What happens now is we conduct an inquiry and put it to the Crown Prosecution Service who will need to seek advice from the attorney general.

We are in close contact with the CPS.'

He said the CPS would have to consider if it was in the public interest to bring a fresh charge, given Wilson had served a prison term and how much another court case would cost.

The police inquiry will look at whether the victim's existing condition may have made him more susceptible to brain damage from the assault.

Investigators will also examine whether Anthony was given the appropriate medical care.

Cheshire coroner Nicholas Rheinberg, who opened an inquest this week, said a post-mortem examination had provisionally revealed Anthony's cause of death as broncho pneumonia, blunt force trauma and brain injuries.

He said the body would not be released because of the possibility of a further criminal investigation. He adjourned the hearing to a date to be arranged.